BEIRUT, Lebanon - A Lebanese minister tendered his resignation on Wednesday night, just a day after he was appointed to a new government that will lead the country to May elections, official sources said.

Ghassan Salameh, made minister of education and culture in the cabinet of Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Tuesday, did not give any reasons for his decision in a written resignation letter, they said.

Salameh, who lives in Paris, did not attend the government's first meeting on Wednesday.

Mikati's government has been widely welcomed as Lebanon's best chance to find a way out of its worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.

The country was thrown into turmoil by the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

The official sources said they expected a new minister to be named to replace Salameh, an ex-minister who served in the U.N. mission in Baghdad in the aftermath of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. (Reuters)